MONITORING AND EVALUATION

            Monitoring is the systematic supervision of activities in progress to ensure that they are on curse and schedule in meeting objectives and performance targets.  It is a test or sampling on a regular or ongoing basis of a system, program, project or activity for any changes in application performance, transaction, problems and potentials for changes as well as the effectiveness and efficiency. This involves a systematic collection and analysis of data as a project progresses. Generally, monitoring involves:

·        Establishing indicators of efficiency, effectiveness and impact

·        Setting up systems to collect information related to these indicators

·        Collecting and recording the information

·        Analyzing the information

·        Using the information to inform day-to-day management

            Evaluation is the systematic determination of the merits, worth and significance of something or following some certain set standards, an assessment of the degree to which a program, project, system or activity fulfills stated objectives and goals. This requires a comparison of actual project impact against the agreed strategic plans. Generally, evaluation involves:

·        Looking at what the project or organization intended to achieve

·        Assessing its progress towards what it was made to achieve

·        Looking at the strategy of the project or organization

·        Looking at how it worked

Details about monitoring and evaluation can be read in the book titled; ' Fundamentals of project Sustainability: Strategies, Processes and Plans'

Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Project-Sustainability-Strategies-Processes/dp/1470197642/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334693178&sr=1-1